Brief description

Amongst the major responsibilities which we undertake, indeed, perhaps one of the greatest arts of the librarian or information officer, is that of creating, maintaining and promoting a collection of materials pertinent to the needs of our clientele. Collection Management is the term given to this major field of management. This module adopts a broad definition of the subject field so that, while devoting time to the fundamental areas of collection development, and collection review and evaluation, it also covers topics such as the promotion of collection use, conservation and preservation, and collection issues related to particular formats. Its overriding concern is the management of a collection of library materials (whether in one or a number of formats) in an effective, efficient and economical way, in order to meet the needs of its community.
Today, we are concerned to develop and promote not only the resources held within a specific library but to promote access to material held in other collections and to resources that exist only in electronic form. Particular consideration is, therefore, given to the issues associated with the management of the electronic library, ie providing access to virtual resources and collections.